Fractions with Smarties Year 4-5 (2014 NC objectives)

This lesson is a fraction investigation and a simpler investigation, is included for any children who are unable to access the harder task. A detailed lesson plan accompanies the children's worksheets as well as all you will need for the whiteboard. The main investigation involves children exploring which fractions can be made from the total number of Smarties, e.g. 1/2 of 40, 1/4 of 40, 1/5 of 40, 1/8 of 40, 1/10 of 40, 1/20 of 40, 1/40 of 40 and linking these to the factors of a number. They also draw conclusions about which of the numbers are prime numbers and give reasons for this. Once they have done one number they eat a Smartie and start again. Whiteboards and pens are required for the warm up activity (on IWB resource). Each child also needs a box of mini Smarties (available in multipacks). The simple investigation looks at which numbers it is possible to find 1/2 of with the children looking for patterns, e.g. even numbers, multiples of 2.